Natural climate solutions are vital to combating climate change

Land management could cost-effectively account for one-third of the climate change mitigation needed to prevent a dangerous rise in global temperature.

Comprehensive analysis shows that natural climate solutions could prevent dangerous climate change. Scientists from 18 institutions, including the University of Vermont (UVM), updated and built upon mitigation options shared in the Fifth Assessment Report of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) to identify 20 natural climate solutions.

“This study shows the potential of mainstreaming climate concerns across all types of land uses to reduce the impacts of climate change,” Lini Wollenberg, co-author and Low Emissions Development research leader for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), said. “Realizing this potential will now require political will, finance and coordinated action on the ground,” she said.

The findings should boost large-scale conservation, restoration, and land management efforts as well as ensure food and fiber security and global fuel demands. But much work remains to be done, according to the article, to figure out how to implement the pathways in socially and culturally responsible ways.